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Monday, December 12, 2016

A Busy Weekend for Extremism in Calgary: Blood & Honour and "The Rebel"

This past weekend there were two Calgary events that caught our attention. In some ways they were a study in contrasts. One event was held on Saturday by a small, shadowy, group that has since 2012 shunned media attention. The other was held on Sunday by a relatively politically savvy group that, while claiming to revile the media, works very hard to capture the attention of that same media for fun and profit.

But while their methods in dealing with media attention might contrast, there are still a few similarities which is perhaps a bit ironic considering one is a hate group in Calgary run by a violent antisemite and the other is a media platform established by a prominent (though not widely respected) Jewish-Canadian which has been used to rile up Canadian and foment hatred.

On Saturday, Blood & Honour in Calgary held an event:

This was actually the latest in a number of events organized by Kyle McKee's B&H since 2013. Prior to 2013, McKee and co. were frequently in the news with their White Pride March which was for a while an annual annoyance. Though McKee might have been pleased with the notoriety in those cases, the other times he and his group were mentioned tended to result in rather unwanted attention by the police and frequently ended up with McKee and others finding themselves as guests of Her Majesty's hospitality for months and years at a time. But then charges of assault, vandalism, illegal possession of weapons, attempted murder, and murder will put a bit of a damper on one's desire to be famous.

But recently though, and after Trump's victory in the United States, it looks like Calgary's B&H has decided to make itself known again:

The above photo was taken at the Lion's Park LRT station around November 22. If one wishes to look at the silver lining of Trump's election victory in November based in part on stoking racial prejudices in some of his supporters is that the media is more willing to pay attention to hate groups whereas in the past they would be ignored as "fringe" and "irrelevant":

McKee (posing as "Freedom Fighter") appears to confirm on Stormfront that there will be more active recruitment by B&H in Calgary in the future:

What McKee doesn't seem to understand is that as he has grown increasingly arrogant concerning B&H and his belief that he's operating under the radar, he's also become very sloppy.

We'll leave that there for Kyle to ponder.

Blood & Honour and like gangs are dangerous, though as we've always noted that their danger lies in how they target individuals and communities. That fact can't be discounted, but we've always written that gangs such as McKee's are ultimately not a danger to the social fabric of the country as a whole. Even in the post-truth era of Trump, that remains true in general. The real danger are individuals and groups that are able to stoke the fear of demographic and cultural change in the country and use that fear to create resentment and hatred which, if directed, could lead to violence.

That's where people like Ezra come in:

The previous weekend, Ezra Levant and "The Rebel" held an anti-carbon tax rally at the Edmonton legislature which sort of made national news when some of the folks in the crowd began the Trump inspired chant, "lock her up!" Chris Alexander was present then and was too spineless to say anything at the time, but bravely mentioned how uncomfortable he was with the chant when not with the angry mob. Others in politics and media did however condemn the chant, which prompted Levant criticize those conservative politicians who were critical of the mob-like chant that was only missing the pitchforks and torches....

.... and to double down on the chant:

Also not surprising, Ezra has decided to try to monetize the controversy by selling a t-shirt to people who he has suggested are financially hard done by the Alberta government:

Ezra has tried to make the case that the crowd weren't really demanding the arrest and imprisonment of democratically elected politicians who are doing their job (whether or not people agree with the policies enacted by said politicians is an entirely different matter and the reason why we have elections, but that's another matter). No, these people are merely frustrated, non-violent, folk who are venting but who are not actually serious about subverting democracy. Any fool could see that, right?

If this is Ezra's argument, then he should perhaps let his follower know that they should play along:

More recently, and just before the Calgary rally this past Saturday, the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters began a campaign, "to counter the chants of "Lock Her Up" that were heard at a rally against Rachel Notley's government at the Alberta legislature":

Ezra's response, as well as others who (work?) for "The Rebel", was that he was disgusted that anyone might exploit his supporters other than himself would dare suggest his supporters were misogynistic and violent.

Again, maybe Ezra should try a little harder projecting that message to his supporters:

And at the rally this past Saturday?

The rally this past Saturday as one might expect. Not a lot of diversity and a great deal of time was spent on topics completely unrelated to the carbon tax. "Bernard the Roughneck" (who still plays the role despite not working in the oil patch in months) once again urged the illegal hacking of government websites, though he also discussed immigration suggesting that, "there's a problem with immigration and who we let in" (don't worry though, because he added he isn't a racist). Conservative leadership candidate Trost railed on about how climate change isn't proven and homosexuals apparently. Fellow leadership candidate and Trump wannabe Kellie Leitch was.... well.... being Kellie Leitch is sort of baggage enough.

This is Ezra's schtick. He's not particularly original. He and his "media" platform members will use terms like cuck, lügenpresse, sjw, "snowflake", and other insults, but none are his own. What he is pretty good at though is stoking the rage machine and directing it towards people and groups he styles as his ideological opponents.

We've written about Ezra and his, shall we say, redirecting of popular discontent, before.

The thing is, we don't think he actually believes half the shit the comes out of his mouth. Ezra's main business is promoting Ezra and if manipulating his followers will result in some press, and more importantly money; Ezra literally passed around a bucket on Saturday so that people he terms as unemployed and desperate could turn over what money they had on them to support a member of the Toronto elite he himself rails against.

However Ezra knows what he's doing. And it is both extremely cynical and dangerous.

So while boneheads like McKee and B&H are indeed a concern, it's people like Ezra Levant who, while profiting from the anger he is helping to generate, are creating the actual conditions which encourage violence from his supporters who might not be in on his joke:

Levant said the chant was a "cultural allusion" to the Trump campaign and was clearly intended humorously by the crowd.

"You don't have to think it's a funny joke but you have to know it's a joke," he said.

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A group of diverse but like-minded individuals, the members of ARC have come together in their common desire to fight hatred, bigotry, intolerance and violence because of the harm these antisocial behaviors cause to our society. In that effort, we will not use or sanction the use of illegal actions (such as violence or intimidation) in pursuit of our desired aims and if we learn of anyone who does use these unethical methods we will report those individuals to the authorities. Instead, we will use the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensure freedom of legal speech and expression.

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